Gover

Facts

Plaintiffs claim that they are descended from people who were named as members of the Mooretown Rancheria Indian tribe in either a 1915 census or a 1935 tribal voter list. “Ran- cherias are numerous small Indian reservations or communi- ties in California, the lands for which were purchased by the Government (with Congressional authorization) for Indian use WILLIAMS v. GOVER 7417 from time to time in the early years of [the twentieth] century — a program triggered by an inquiry (in 1905-06) into the landless, homeless or penurious state of many California Indi- ans.”1 In 1958, the Mooretown Rancheria consisted of two separated 80 acre parcels of land in Butte County, California, near Oroville.

Congress adopted the California Rancheria Termination Act in 1958 in order to distribute rancheria lands to individual Indians.2 The Act provided for the conveyance of rancheria assets, with unrestricted title, to the individual Indians living there, if a majority of the Indians voting approved. Before conveyance, the Act required the government to survey the land owned by the rancheria, construct or improve the roads serving the rancheria, install or…